lope county, and Mr.
Hopkins with his parents lived with this brother during the
winter, when they took up a homestead in section five, township
twenty-six, range five, (Bernett township) on which they built a
log house, and lived here ten years. Their home was the stopping
place for many coming to Nebraska in the early days, and it was
known as the Half Way House.
April 16, 1884, Mr. Hopkins was married to Miss
Minnie Nelson fourteen children have been born to them, as
follows: Emma, Clyde, Andy, Hazel, Ernest, Harry, Edith, Ivan,
Myrtle, Viola, and Harold. John deceased in 1902; Josie, deceased
in 1892 and Willard, 1897.
Mr. Hopkinns [sic] had many hardships in
starting out for himself, and among other experiences went through
the hailstorm of 1895, losing his entire crops, and in 1894 the
hot winds killed all of his crops. In 1907, Mr. Hopkins bought his
present home of two hundred and forty acres, and it is a well
improved farm and known as the Frisbec hometead [sic].
Here our subject and his family reside and enjoy the respect and
esteem of all who know them.

ALBERT R. DOWNING, M.
D.

Dr. Albert
R. Downing, of Merna, is one of the best known physicians of
Custer county and has one of the largest practices in his
profession in central Nebraska. He is a native of Camp Point,
Illinois, born July 27, 1861, third of the children of William and
Mary (Bates) Downing, who were parents of three sons and two
daughters. One brother of Dr. Downing, Joseph, is also a physician
and surgeon, and lives at Rising City, Nebraska.
Dr. Downing was educated in the common schools
of Camp Point, and in his seventeenth year began a college course
at Lincoln, Illinois, remaining there two years, after which he
spent one year in college at Valparaiso, Indiana. He later studied
medicine at Quincy and graduated from the Quincy (Illinoi)
[sic] Medical College March 10, 1886, after which he
located in Waco, Nebraska, for the practice of his profession. In
1895 he left Waco and came to Merna, and is now the oldest
practitioner of that town. He has built up a splendid practice
through his ability and standing in his profession, and this
extends over a large field.
Dr. Downing was married in Waco, April 11, 1888,
to Miss Emma Stickler, daughter of Joseph W. and Nancy Stickyer
[sic], pioneer residents of Waco, who came to Nebraska in
1876, and two children have been born of their union, William,
born in the town of Henderson, York county, now sixteen years of
age, and Howard, who has reached the age of fourteen years, both
young men of promise. Dr. Downing and his wife are well and
favorably known in educational and social circles and he is a
member of the state and county medical societies, in which he has
taken a prominent part. He served some years ago as county
physician of Custer county. Mrs. Downing's mother and two of her
sisters reside in York; her brother George B., is now pastor of
the Presbyterian church of Ansley, Nebraska, and another brother,
T. J. Strickler, is president of the state conference of the
Methodist Protestant church and lives in Kansas City.

OLE JOHNSON.

Ole
Johnson, now living retired from active life in Broken Bow,
Nebraska, has long been a resident of Custer county and was the
first settler in Round Valley, where for many years he was a
successful grain and stock farmer. Mr. Johnson is a native of
Norway, born January 15, 1845, the eldest of seven children. He
has two brothers in Wisconsin, a sister in Wisconsin, and others
of the family still live in Norway. When nine years of age Mr.
Johnson came to America with relatives, who located in Dane
county, Wisconsin. He received his education in the public schools
of that state and on January 20, 1863, at Winona, Minnesota,
enlisted in Company D, Third Minnesota Infantry, in which he
served to the close of the war, and received his discharge at Fort
Snelling, September 2, 1865. The most important battles in which
he participated were the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of
Little Rock, Arkansas. He also took part in many minor engagements
and skirmishes and won a creditable record.
At the close of the war Mr. Johnson engaged in
farming in Minnesota, and he was married at Faribault, that state,
May 20, 1870, to Carrie Chelson, also of Norwegian birth, who had
been brought to America an infant and reared in the state of
Wisconsin. She now has two brothers and two sisters in Minnesota,
and another sister, Mrs. John A. Taylor, lives in Berwyn,
Nebraska. In June, 1880, Mr. Johnson came with his wife and four
children to Custer county and took up a timber claim of one
hundred and sixty acres of land on section twenty-seven, township
nineteen, range nineteen, in Round Valley, later securing a
homestead of the same size adjoining. He lived on this place,
improving it and adding to his holdings from time to time, until
he now owns four hundred and eighty acres of land which is well
improved and equipped and considered one of the best farms in the
neighborhood. He was an energetic and successful operator and in
1908 was able to retire from farm life and move to Broken Bow,
where he purchased a comfortable residence. He helped to organize
school district number sity-six [sic] and served on the
board of same. He is a progressive citizen, intelligently
interested in local issues and events, and closely identified with
the development of his town, county and state. He is a self-made
man in the strict sense of the word and is held in general respect
and esteem by all who know him. He has passed through a most
interesting period of Nebraska's history and has made the most of
his opportunities along various lines.

928

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Mr.
Johnson and wife have had nine children, namely: Peter C., of
Round Valley, has three children; Julius C., also of Round Valley,
has four children; Henry G., is at home; Clemmie, wife of Adolph
Ellingson, of Round Valley, has six children; Annie, wife of
Edward Oleson, of Round Valley, has five children; Minnie, wife of
Ole Chelson, lives in Broken Bow; Clara and Steven O.are at home;
one son died in infancy. A picture of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson will be
found on another page.

Mr. and Mrs. Ole
Johnson.

CHARLES ALDEN
MUNGER.

Charles A.
Munger, a progressive and enterprising farmer of Pierce county,
Nebraska, is one of the very earliest settlers of this regon
[sic]. He resides on his pleasant farm in section thirty,
township twenty-seven, range four, where he has succeeded in
building up one of the valuable estates of the locality, and is
considered one of the substantial agriculturists of the
community.
Mr. Munger was born November 10, 1854, in Rock
Island county, Wisconsin, and is the son of George and Mary
(Farnsworth) Munger, the father being born in New York, and died
in 1894 at the advanced age of eighty-two years; and the mother
was born in Vermont January 18, 1824, and lives with our
subject.
Charles A. Munger lived in Wisconsin twenty-five
years. He came to Pierce county, Nebraska, coming by rail to
Norfolk and driving from there to where he located a farm
September 4, 1879, moving on the place in February, 1880. He had
the house framed ready to put together in Wisconsin, and erected
it himself. His family came in May, 1880. Mr. Munger has gone
through all the hardships and privations endured by the early
pioneers of this western country in its first days of settlement,
among other experiences his crops being destroyed by hail in 1890.
He got only fifty bushels of corn from one hundred acres. In the
hailstorm of June 10, 1880, his house was blown eight feet off its
foundation. Mr. Munger was luckily at home at the time of the
blizzard of October, 1880. A daughter was at school during the
blizzard of January 12, 1888, and remained all night. For two or
three years after coming to Nebraska, the family burned hay, but
burned but little corn. Mr. Munger hauled some wood from Bazile
creek and some from the Elkhorn river, each twenty miles from
home.
Mr. Munger was united in marriage to Miss Laura
Lane, November 7, 1875, and to this union have been born five
children, whose names are as follows: Winnie. who lives in Pierce
county, married Gilbert Staley and has five children; Minnie, who
lives in Antelope county, married William Crippen and has one
child; Pearl, who lives in Antelope county, married Frank Young
and has two children; Vernon and Alta.
Mr. Munger has three hundred and twenty acres of
good land, half of which is in Antelope county. He is a member of
the Woodmen lodge, and is independent in politics. He and his
family are highly esteemed and respected in the community in which
they live.

CARL L.
PETERSEN.

Carl L.
Petersen, widely and favorably known as an active public spirited
citizen of Howard county, Nebraska, is a man of broad experience,
and one of the prominent early settlers of that section. For the
past ten years he has been retired from active work, making his
home in Dannebrog, where for three years he held the office of
marshal of the town.
Mr. Petersen was born in the town of Nestved
Denmark, on July 12, 1841. At the age of twenty he entered the
Danish army, becoming a member of the Seventh Regiment Infantry,
Company three, and served up to August 12, 1864. He was married in
his native country in 1868 to Christina Jensen, and the following
year they came to America.
After landing in this country they went directly
to Wisconsin and remained for about two years, then came to
Nebraska, locating in Grand Island, where Mr. Petersen engaged in
the mercantile business which he carried on for about a year, then
removed his interests to Dannebrog and operated his store at this
place up to 1884, when he quit and purchased a farm near
Dannebrog. This he devoted to grain and stock raising and was very
successful for fifteen years, building up a good home. About 1900
he again moved into Dannebrog, and has made his permanent home
here since that time.
Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have had a family of five
children four girls and one boy namely: Marie, Amy, Sophie, Elvira
and Waldmier, the last mentioned being deceased.
Mr. Petersen, while living on the farm, was
connected with the school board of district number seventeen, and
held the position of postmaster at Dannebrog during 1882, 1883 and
1884. In this way he became familiar with all who lived in the
vicinity and is one of the best known men of his
county.

CHARLES S.
BURDICK.

Charles S.
Burdick, a substantial farm worthy citizen of Valley county,
Nebraska, resides on section two, towsnhip [sic] nineteen,
range fourteen. He and his father before him are pioneers of the
locality and have materially assisted in its development and
advancement.
Charles S. Burdick was born in Erie county, New
York, July 28, 1878, and was second of four children in the family
of Rouse and Eliza Burdick who had four sons: George, Charles,
Ray, and a son who died in infancy.
Rouse Burdick, wife and sons, George and
Charles, came to Valley county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1882
and homesteaded the southeast quar-

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

929

ter of section two,
townsbip nineteen, range fourteen, and Charles Burdick, the
subject of this sketch owns and resides on this original home
farm. Mr. Rouse Burdick died in Ord in December, 1891, survived by
a widow and two children, Charles and Ray, both of whom live in
Valley county. Mrs. Burdick, our subject's mother, remained a
widow for some time, and then remarried and now resides in Ord,
Valley county, and is now Mrs. S. G. Dumound; of this second
marriage one child was born.
Charles S. Burdick, the principal subject of
this sketch, grew up in Valley county from his fourth year, and
the old homestead farm was his home during all the years of his
residence here. He is a farm boy, receiving the usual educational
advantages, and is now one of the successful young men of Valley
county, having a fine grain and stock farm, and he makes a
specialty of a good breed of hogs.
Mr. Burdick was married to Miss Lily Parks in
Ord, January 1, 1899; Miss Parks is of an old Valley county
family, and was born in Valley county. A sketch of the Parks
family appears on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Burdick
reside on their farm, and are well known among the younger people
of Valley county, and enjoy the respect and esteem of a large
circle of friends. They are progressive young people along all
lines, giving their encouragement to all educational and
progressive propositions.
Mr. Burdick is a good citizen, and is active in
everything pertaining to the progression of his home county and
state.

ANDREW
NAHRSTEDT.

To the men
of perseverance and stalwart determination who went to Nebraska
when it was yet undeveloped as an agricultural and commercial
region, the present prosperity enjoyed there is due. Among the
early settlers of Madison county who have been intimately
identified with its development and have gained enviable
reputations as citizens, may be mentioned Andrew Nahrstedt. He
resides on section thirteen, township twenty-two, range one, west,
where he and his family are surrounded by a host of good friends
and acquaintances.
Mr. Nahrstedt is a native of Canada, born August
9, 1872, the son of Henry and Caroline (Burmeister) Nahrstedt; his
father dying in 1875, when our subject was but a small boy.
In 1876, he and his mother came to Madison
county, Nebraska, where they took up a homestead and a pre-emption
claim and built a frame house. Here the little family endured many
hardships and privations; many times fought prairie fires to save
their lives and home; and as late as 1894 the entire crops were
destroyed by the hot winds that prevailed during the drouth of
that year. In the first days of settlement Columbus was the
nearest market place. Antelope and deer were plentiful in those
days and were frequently seen brousing around. Mr. Nahrstedt
bought his present farm in 1895, and has lived there continuously
since, and is well and favorably known in his community.
Mr. Nahrstedt was united in marriage in 1894, to
Miss Sarah Anderson, and Mr. and Mrs. Nahrstedt are the parents of
six children, whose names are as follows: Archie, Clarence,
Harold, Iola, Roy and Waldo. They are a fine family and enjoy the
highest respect and esteem of all who know them, and their friends
are many.

CHARLES J.
MYTTON.

Charles J.
Mytton, a substantial and successful fruit grower, farmer,
gardener and stock raiser, of Custer county, Nebraska, has taken
an active part in public affairs in his community. He was born
near Welshpool, in Shropshire, England, March 4, 1856, the only
child of Charles and Mary (Evans) Mytton. He was educated in local
schools and learned the trade of shoemaker. In October, 1871, he
came to America, in company with Thomas Morris, who has always
lived with him since that time. Sailing from Liverpool, October 2,
in the "Colorado," they landed at Castle Garden, New York, fifteen
days later. They located first at Blackstone, in Livingston
county, Illinois, and were partners in a shoemaking establishment
there for ten years.
After his marriage in 1879, Mr. Mytton lived in
Illinois until 1881 and then moved to Missouri, where he engaged
in farming in Harrison county, near New Hampton, until 1886, the
date of his coming, with his wife and two children, to Custer
county. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land,
comprising the northwest quarter of section twelve, township
sixteen, range eighteen, which is still the home place, and is
known as the Walnut Grove Stock Farm. He has developed his farm
and improved it, until he has a well equipped stock farm, and
makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred hogs. He has of late
years given much attention to fruit growing and gardening. He has
in his orchards two thousand apple trees, two hundred cherry
trees, and one hundred plum trees. Of small fruits, he has eight
hundred currant bushes, two hundred raspberry bushes, and two
hundred grape vines. About twenty acres are given over each year
to vegetables, for which he finds a ready market in all the
surrounding towns. Mr. Mytton is a public spirited and
representative citizen, and displays great interest in the
prosperity and welfare of his community. For several years he has
served as a member of the school board of district number
sixteen.
On April 22, 1879, Mr. Mytton was married to
Miss Eleanor Fitzgerald, a native of County Kerry, Ireland. Her
parents, Morris and Bridget (Connell) Fitzgerald, came to America
in 1862 and settled at Ottawa, Illinois, later moving to
Blackstone, where the daughter was married. Her father,

930

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Morris Fitzgerald, was
born in Ireland, and after coming to America enlisted in the union
army from Illinois, and was killed in the Civil war. Her mother
was born in Ireland and died in Dale. Nebraska, October 17, 1889.
Mrs. Mytton has a half-brother, Joseph Wilson, who lives in Custer
county. Mr. Mytton's father, who was a native of England, died
there in 1900, and his mother, a native of Wales, now lives in
England.
Mr. and Mrs. Mytton have had ten children, as
follows: Della, wife of Walter Lawrence, of Broken Bow, has two
children; Mary, a teacher in Custer county, is a graduate of
Boylis Business College, of Omaha, and of the Zenarian Penman
College, of Columbus, Ohio; Margaret and Elizabeth, twins, both
teachers, in Custer county schools; Alice C. and Eleanor M., both
teachers; William, George D. and Anna S., at home. One daughter
died in infancy. The entire family worship in the Catholic church.
Mr. Mytton is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Thomas Morris, who came to America with Mr.
Mytton, is an inmate of the household, the two men having been
together constantly since leaving their native land in 1871. Mr.
Morris, still hale and hearty, has reached the extreme old age of
one hundred and seventeen years; he was born in Berrew,
Montgomeryshire, Wales, January 15, 1794, and has lived in three
centuries. In the autumn of 1911 a neighbor with a motor car came
and gave him his first ride in a self-propelled vehicle. In his
youth the usual means of locomotion was walking.
Mr. Mytton was living north of Ansley in 1888,
and on the day of the famous January blizzard was on his way to
town with a load of corn. He made his way in with it, and remained
over night. The dog that usually accompanied him became separated
from his master and found his way home, causing great uneasiness
until Mr. Mytton returned. A most terrifying experience of Mr.
Mytton occurred while living in Missouri. A cyclone overtook him,
which at times tossed him thirty to forty feet. He finally reached
a place of safety, but was severely frightened and shaken up; the
storm was so severe it tore great trees up by the roots.
Mr. Mytton and family have lived in primitive
style in dugout and "soddy" before being able to build a frame
house, but managed to find some comfort withal.

FRED C.
MARSHALL.

Bohemia
has furnished Knox county a large proportion of its enterprising
citizens, and several townships are made up practically of this
happy, light-hearted, and industrious race. Like a long line of
ancestors who cultivated a taste for music and art, Mr. Marshall
is a violinist of more than local note. He heads an orchestra that
is called upon to furnish music throughout the entire locality in
which he lives, and is well-known to every person in Knox and the
surrounding counties.
Among the earliest of the Bohemian settlers in
Nebraska, was Ignatz Marshall, senior, and his family of five
boys. He was a fine musician, and trained his sons and a
son-in-law thoroughly in the art of string music, especially the
violin, so that even in the days of the greatest hardship that
came to the family, music filled a large place in their lives and
enabled them to enjoy many hours of happiness. He was born in
Bohemia, grew up and was married there, and came to America in
1867, the family settling in Chicago. After two years spent in the
latter place, they came on to Nebraska, father and sons securing
tracts of land in the Niobrara Valley, Pishelville, where they
suffered every form of pioneer hardship and privation, including
scares from Indian uprisings, drouths, floods, grasshopper raids,
etc.
There were four sons in the family that came on
to Knox county with their parents, Ignatz, junior, Frank, Louis,
and Emil. Charles Marshall, who was the father of our subject,
Fred C. Marshall, was born in Bohemia in 1854, and after coming to
America with his parents, he remained in Chicago when they came on
west. He was there at the time of the great fire, joining this
relatives here the following spring, when he filed on a tract of
land in the same locality.
In 1886 Charles Marshall moved to Niobrara and
opened a general store, which he operated up to the time of his
death, which occurred on December 10, 1903, and in his demise the
people of the community lost one of their popular citizens. His
wife was Mary Lundak, also a native of Bohemia, who came to the
United States in 1867. She now resides in Niobrara. Of their
children, Fred C. is the second in order of birth, he first seeing
the light on June 25, 1880, at Pishelville. The first seven years
of his life were spent on the farm, when the family moved to town,
where he attended the city schools, and during his hours from
school assisted his father in the store. After his graduation from
high school, in 1896, he secured a teacher's certificate, and for
four years taught in the country schools, and for one year was
employed in a store at Plainview. He was offered the principalship
of the Verdigris schools, accepted the same, and spent two years
and a-half at that point. In 1903 he was elected county
superintendent of schools, and served for four years in that
capacity. During 1908 he farmed near Verdigris, and on February 1,
1909, took charge of the Niobrara Tribune, which he had purchased
a short time previous. This paper he is making a "live wire" in
Knox county journalism, and is eminently fitted to efficiently
fill the editorial chair.
Mr. Marshall was married at Norfolk, on June 6,
1906, to Miss Frances Viele, daughter of A. H. and Kate (Noyes)
Viele, old residents of Blair,

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

931

Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs.
Marshall have one daughter, Beatrice.
In 1910 Mr. Marshall, in company with other
well-known men of his locality, promoted the improvement of the
Niobrara Island Park, an island in the Niobrara river, which they
are fitting up as a summer resort, he being the first to erect a
cottage on the camp. This is a beautifully located spot, and
promises to be one of the noted summering places in this part of
the west, having been donated to the town of Niobrara by the
government for park purposes when the Sioux Indian treaty of 1889
was made, and contains nearly seven hundred acres.
Mr. Marshall is a republican and is active in
local affairs. He is a member of a number of fraternal orders,
including that of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Bohemian Benevolent
Association, and with his family is a regular attendant of the
Episcopal church.

HENRY VAN
HOOSEN.

Henry Van
Hoosen has made a good record as a citizen of eastern Nebraska,
where he settled in 1870. Through all the pioneer struggles he has
done his part in the upbuilding of the general interests of the
community and has won the respect and confidence of his friends
and neighbors.
Henry Van Hoosen, is a son of William and
Celinda (Woodward) Van Hoosen, and was born in Sparta, Livingston
county, New York, August 15, 1835. He was third in a family of ten
children. He has two brothers living in Polk county, Nebraska; and
one sister residing in California. The mother died in 1874, in
California, and the father in Merrick county, about 1893. In 1845,
Mr. Van Hoosen went with his parents to Illinois, where Mr. Van
Hoosen received the greater part of his education. The family were
living within three miles of Nauvoo, a Mormon settlement, at the
time of anti-Mormon uprising, which lasted several weeks before
government troops were called upon to quell the trouble.
On July 2, 1862, Mr. Van Hoosen was united in
marriage to Miss Mary Moore, of Michigan, and later of Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Hoosen have had ten children, seven of whom are
living: Rosella, who married Cyrenus Fiandt, who died, and she
later married Robert Phelps, and they live in North Yakima,
Washington; William, a carpenter, married, and has one son, also
lives in North Yakima, Washington; Ellsworth, deceased in 1873;
George, deceased, June 21, 1880; John, a farmer, married, has one
daughter, and resides on the home farm in Merrick county; Charles,
a railroad engineer, married, has two children, and lives in
Sterling, Colorado; Edward, a merchant, who is married, has two
children, and resides in Scott's Bluff, Nebraska; Louis, deceased
in infancy; Lilly, married William Powell, has two children, and
resides in Angora, Nebraska; Margaret, wife of Harvey Moore, lives
in North Yakima, Washington.
In the spring of 1868, Mr. Van Hoosen made a
trip to Nebraska, looking for location and filed on a homestead of
sixty-five acres in Saunders county, seven miles southeast of
Wauhoo. Two years later Mr. Van Hoosen brought his family overland
from Illinois to his homestead farm spending three weeks on the
journey. After twelve years residence there they sold the
homestead and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in section
nineteen, township thirteen, range six, west, in Merrick county,
mostly under cultivation, where they lived until 1905, when Mr.
Van Hoosen retired from the farm and moved to Central City and
purchased a good home, where they now reside. Our subject served
as director of his school district number forty-eight for several
years.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Hoosen are among the earliest
settlers of this portion of Nebraska, and are widely and favorably
known. They have passed through all the trying experiences and
hardships of pioneer days.
Mrs. Van Hoosen's father died in June, 1886, and
the mother in August, 1902. She has one brother residing in
Kansas, four brothers in Illinois, two sisters in Illinois, and
another brother in Iowa.

CARL A.
ANDERSON.

Carl A.
Anderson, editor of "The Weekly Gazette," at Wausa, is a Nebraska
boy to the manor born. His parents, August and Christine Anderson,
were natives of Kylingared parish, Elfborgs district, Sweden; the
father's birth occurred November 9, 1834, and the mother's the
sixth day of April, 1838. They were married in Sweden, on February
22, 1866, and soon after set sail for the new world. Crossing the
North sea from Stockholm, to Hull, they proceeded by rail to
Liverpool, where they went on board a sail ship and reached the
coast of Nova Scotia after a tiresome journey of little over
twenty-one days. The ship was not allowed to harbor, but was kept
on anchor out at sea on account of cholera breaking out on board,
and they were kept in quarantine there for several days. The
mother contracted the disease and for a time her life hung in it
balance, but was mercifully spared. This was only the first of
their troubles. On arriving at Jamestown, New York, they
discovered that some one reporting them dead on board the ship and
given a watery grave had obtained possession of their trunk and
belongings and decamped, thus leaving them with nothing but the
clothes they wore and two or three dollars in money. The father
worked on a farm in New York state for some three months, after
which he and his young wife removed to Bishop's Hill, New York,
and later to Geneseo, Illinois. Here they lived until 1867, when
they came to Nebraska, and settled in Saunders county, taking up a
homestead about fourteen miles south of Fremont. Trouble seemed to
follow the travelers. While the mother came by passenger train,
Mr. Anderson came

932

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

through with their
furniture, and the train in which his car was made up was wrecked.
By quickly jumping through a window of the car, the father's life
was saved. After settling in their Nebraska home, hardships and
misfortunes relentlessly pursued them; grasshoppers devastated
their crops for three years in the seventies, leaving hard times
and want in their wake; prairie fires frequently came racing down
onto them, and one time got so far beyond their control that the
sills of their house took fire, but was fortunately extinguished
before any great damage was done. Deer and antelope were to be
seen in the country when the senior Mr. Anderson settled with his
family in Nebraska, sometimes coming into the door yard. The
eighty-acre homestead was sold after a few years, and a tract of
one hundred and sixty acres purchased. The mother's illness for
three years during the eighties set the family back to such extent
that popular subscription was gathered by the neighbors to defray
a part of the doctor bills, but her partial recovery made the
family happy again and now hopes of the future were entertained.
During these three years, Carl, was cared for by neighbors and
came near being adopted by one of those families. Through dire and
brighter years the family continued their residence in this same
place until in January of 1893, when two of the sons came to
Wausa, being followed here in March of the same year by the father
and mother, the latter making this their home until death. The
father passed away November 13, 1896, the mother October 6, 1909.
Their five children are: J. Albert, farmer and stock raiser,
living north of Wausa; Frank Edwin, editor of "Omaha Posten," at
Omaha, Nebraska, a weekly Swedish newspaper devoted to the
interests of the Swedish Americans; Theodore, a merchant of Wausa;
Cecelia Gertrude, wife of Charles S. Erickson, farming one mile
north of Wausa; and Carl August, the subject of this sketch.
Carl August Anderson was born at Mead, Saunders
county, Nebraska, August 25, 1879, and lived there until May 30,
1893, when he joined the family in Knox county. Mr. Anderson
attended the common schools of Saunders county and later the
schools of Wausa. In 1895 he began learning the printers trade and
kept at the case for eight months, when he returned to the farm
and worked a year and a half. He next worked a couple of years in
Wausa, learning harness making, and then clerked for sixteen
months at Wakefield, Nebraska.
On January 1, 1901, he bought a half interest in
the "Wausa Gazette" of Mr. J. E. Baggstrom, who had established
the journal in partnership with Frank Edwin Anderson, now editor
of the "Omaha Posten." The brothers were associated in the
publication of the "Gazette" until January 1, 1904, when Carl
purchased the entire interest in the paper, and his brother moved
to Omaha to take up a wider field of journalism. He edits a live
country paper full of news and a goodly amount of display
advertising. His job work ranks well to the front as compared with
work turned out by country shops, and he enjoys a liberal
patronage as his products of "the art preservative" well merits.
Mr. Anderson was appointed postmaster of Wausau, January 1, 1908,
and is serving his first term to the satisfaction of all those
receiving mail at that office.
Mr. Anderson was married at Mead, Nebraska,
August 31, 1904, to Miss Olga Elenore Monteen, a Nebraska girl.
She is a daughter of Gust and Ingrid (Berg) Monteen, both hailing
Sweden as the place of their nativity. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are
the parents of two children, Rupert Cedric and Gordon
Vladimir.
In politics Mr. Anderson is a staunch
republican, and through the "Gazette" gives healthy support to the
party candidates. Like many of his people, he is a member of the
Swedish Lutheran church, and is putting in some earnest work in
promoting this good cause, having acted as leader of the local
choir for the past eight years, and also been associated with any
other musical organization within the church.

WILLIAM
WEITZEL.

William
Weitzel, son of Godfrey and Marie Weitzel, was born in Bergen,
Germany, July 20, 1840, and was fourth in a family of twelve
children, three brothers of whom reside in America, and three in
Germany, the others being deceased. The parents are also deceased,
having died in Germany, the father in 1896, and the mother in
1859.
In 1852, in company with an elder brother,
Julius, Mr. Weitzel came to America, going to Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, where he made his home with his uncle, Jacob
Weitzel, for four years, during which time he worked on a
neighboring farm for one year for five dollars a month and at the
end of the year his savings amounted to forty dollars. In 1856 he
went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was engaged in the grocery
business one year, and in 1858 went to Marshall county, Illinois,
where he and his brother were engaged in the retail grocery
business until 1866, and in January, 1866, he went to Chicago.
In Chicago, on September 9, 1867, Mr. Weitzel
was married to Miss Emma M. Mayer, who was a native of Marshall
county, Illinois. They are the parents of two children; Frederick
M., who is married has two children, and lives in Albion,
Nebraska; and William C., who lives in San Francisco,
California.
On October 16, 1871, Mr. Weitzel came to Boone
county, Nebraska, and homesteaded one hundred and eighty-six acres
in sections one and two, township twenty, range seven, where he
lived until 1886. On August 20, 1882, he was appointed deputy
county clerk, serving until January 1, 1888, when he was elected
county clerk, in which office he served until 1894. He
also

COMPENDIUM OF
HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

933

served his county as
superintendent of public instruction four years, served as justice
of the peace two years, and as assessor four years, and has been a
director of the Albion National Bank since 1890, and since 1899
has been treasurer of Albion school board.
In May, 1864, Mr. Weitzel enlisted in Company F,
One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Volunteer Infantry of Illinois,
serving until close of the war, and received his honorable
discharge November 1, 1864.
Mr. Weitzel is now living in Albion, where he
has a fine home, and is conducting an abstract and insurance
business.

JAMES W.
VOORHIES.

James W.
Voorhies, an agriculturist of prominence in Antelope county,
Nebraska, resides in Royal township and is one of those
substantial citizens whose integrity and industry, thrift and
economy have added so materially to the wealth and growth of
Nebraska. Agriculture forms the basis of wealth in all countries
of the world, and it is thereford of great importance that the
class of people who inhabit the great farming regions should
represent those elements of sterling worth so prominently
displayed by the majority of the early settlers of the west and
their descendants. Mr. Voorhies is a worthy citizen and a good
neighbor, and richly deserves all the success which has come to
him.
Mr. Voorhies was born in Tama county, Iowa, July
16, 1855, and lived in that vicinity until he came to Nebraska in
March, 1887, receiving his education in the country schools of
Iowa. Mr. Voorhies' father, G. W. Voorhies, was born in 1830 in
New York, and is a descendant from Holland; and our subject's
mother was born in 1832, also in the state of New York, her maiden
name being Calista J. Dingee.
On April 4, 1883, Mr. Voorhies was united in
marriage to Miss Laura E. Ferguson, and Mr. and Mrs. Voorhies are
the parents of eight children. whose names are as follows: Wilber
R., Anna E., George S., Mary C., Alfred W., C. Walter, Laura M.,
and Lucy M.
In the year of 1887 Mr. Voorhies with his family
came to Nebraska and bought a relinquishment on a timber claim
from Mr. A. E. Jones, and there started to make a fortune for
himself, and has succeeded to a fair degree after various
difficulties and discouragements. On June 23, 1889, they suffered
losses through the hail storm of that date, and reaped only about
one-third of their crops, August 11, 1895. Again on August 23,
1900, they experienced another severe hail storm which killed
almost all of our subject's young fruit trees, as he had a fine
orchard started. The year of 1894 was the year of the great
drouth, and is vividly remembered by all who were here at that
time, as all suffered alike. Mr. Voorhies relates that on July 28
of that year the thermometer registers one hundred and ten degrees
in the shade, and the wind at the time was blowing a hurricane. On
July fourth of that year a great prairie fire started and swept
over miles of this country. This shows how dry the grass was at
that time, as it would be almost impossible at the present day for
such a fire to gain a start.
In those early days they had no wood to burn,
and they were compelled to burn corn and hay to keep warm. But
those days are passed and Mr. Voorhies now possesses a fine
property of three hundred and twenty acres of land which is a
well-improved farm, and has seven acres of shade trees, and also
fruit trees.

WESLEY M.
VANNICE.

Wesley M.
Vannice was one of the pioneer settlers of Custer county, and is
one of the very few who came in an early day to occupy their
original homesteads through all the years. He was born in Des
Moines county, Iowa, July 1, 1847, the youngest child of Abraham
and Elizabeth (Domiree) Vannice, who had five sons and four
daughters. He was reared on the farm where he was born and
received the ordinary common school education usually received by
a farmer's son of the locality. He remained on this farm until his
enlistment August 13, 1863, in Company M, Eighth Iowa Volunteer
cavalry, in which he served two years to a day, receiving his
discharge August 13, 1865. He was with Sherman during the famous
march to the sea, and also served under General Thomas. At the
time of his muster out, at Macon, Georgia, he was chief cavalryman
under General Wilson. Mr. Vannice participated in the battles of
Kenesaw mountain, Dalton, and various other engagements, while
serving under General Sherman, and while under Thomas was before
Nashville, and in the two battles of Franklin, twenty miles from
Nashville, with General Wilson he took part in the Wilson raid
during the spring of 1865, going through Alabama and on to Macon,
and he served with Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta.
At the close of the war Mr. Vannice returned to
his old home in Iowa and went back on the farm, which was located
near Burlington. In 1881 he engaged in general mercantile business
at Northfield, Iowa, and became postmaster there, and in the fall
of 1884 he came to Custer county, taking a homestead on the
southeast quarter of section twenty-five, township seventeen,
range twenty-one, which place is his present home. He has passed
through the various experiences of pioneers in the county since he
located on this place and has developed and improved his land
until he has a valuable estate. He was married in Kossuth, Iowa,
November 19, 1874, to Sarah J. Myers, daughter of Joseph and
Catherine Myers, and when he came to Nebraska he was accompanied
by his wife, their two children, and a nephew of his wife's.
Five